There was a moment during last week’s episode of Landman that seemed to be far more important than the two seconds of screen time it received.

• Season 2 of Landman is halfway through, with Ep. 6 (of 10) slated for Sunday (Dec. 21) on Paramount+.
• Season 3 was confirmed earlier in December, although no timeline was given for the show.
• Taste of Country’s Dutton Rules podcast team breaks down episodes every Tuesday.

Ainsley (Michelle Randolph) and Angela (Ali Larter) were just back from a birthday party and were putting away groceries in preparation of the pirate dinner. TL (Sam Elliott) is enjoying their energy (the “cackling crows”), and at one point he pays his granddaughter a tremendous compliment.

What Happened During Landman, Ep. 5?

Season 2 of Landman has lacked the explosive action Season 1 gave us. None of the primary characters has been wounded or hospitalized, and there really doesn’t seem to be any threat of danger beyond a potential insurance lawsuit.

Last week, Gallino / Dan Morrel (Andy Garcia) and M-Tex owner Cami (Demi Moore) bonded in a way that should have Tommy (Billy Bob Thornton) worrying about his job. Cooper (Jacob Lofland) and Ariana (Paulina Chavez) grew even closer, with the young Norris even driving seven hours to ask for her father’s permission to marry her.

There was a fair bit of math required to make sense of why Tommy believes Cooper’s oil franchise is a sham, and even more needed to make sense of M-Tex’s money woes. TL;DR version there: they have $400 million but can’t access it at the moment. Thus, Gallino’s interest in a loan.

Landman, Season 2 Episode 6 Preview:

Episode 6 of Landman is called “The Dark Night of the Soul,” and a trailer reveals Gallino taking another meeting with Cami, plus one with Tommy. The dialogue suggests he’s trying to drive a wedge between the two partners, but he’s a very cunning villain, if he’s a villain at all.

The elder Norris is a tragic character in spite of his pluck and good cheer. Tragic characters are prone to tragedy, which has our hearts hurting for Ainsley.

She’s going to grow close to her grandfather for the very first time, but his demons will emerge, or he’ll pass before she has a chance to really appreciate the relationship.

That’s why the “you look like her” line of dialogue from last week stings so bad. It’s endearing but worrisome, just like every single photo that Paramount+ shared of Ep. 6 ahead of this Sunday’s episode premiere.

‘Landman’ Season 2 Episode 6 Pictures Spell New Troubles

Pictures shared ahead of Landman Episode 6 find the show’s star’s looking very, very troubled. This Sunday’s (Dec. 21) episode promises rising tensions between Tommy and Cami a whole new round of approvals for Cooper, as he plans to marry Ariana.

Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

TL and Tommy Trying To Make It Work

Sam Elliott as T.L. and Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy in Landman Episode 6, Season 2.

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

They’re REALLY Trying!

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Tommy Could Use a Friend

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Ummm, Maybe Not That Friend

Andy Garcia as Gallino in Landman Episode 6, Season 2.

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Rebecca and Nate’s Power Struggle Continues

Kayla Wallace as Rebecca Falcone and Colm Feore as Nathan in Landman Episode 6, Season 2.

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Angela Looks Troubled

Ali Larter as Angela Norris in Landman Episode 6, Season 2.

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Charley’s Back!

Guy Burnet as Charlie Newsom in Landman Episode 6, Season 2.

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Rebecca Got Her Swagger Back

Kayla Wallace as Rebecca Falcone in Landman Episode 6, Season 2.

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

One More for the Road

Michelle Randolph as Ainsley and Ali Larter as Angela in Landman Episode 6, Season 2.

11 ‘Landman’ Facts You Definitely Didn’t Know

This list of Landman facts goes much deeper than what inspired the show, who stars in it and how big the audience is. Here you’ll learn the truth about the most memorable scenes and lines of dialogue, including that line from Ainsley Norris. You know which one we mean.

Season 2 of Landman begins Nov. 16 on Paramount+. Here’s the best Landman trivia we could find as the Dutton Rules podcast team prepares for another great year.

Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes

Emerson Miller, Paramount+

Jerry Jones was unscripted and unrehearsed

During S1, Ep. 9, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talks to Jon Hamm’s Monty Miller about the importance of family. The three-and-a-half-minute scene is just Jones talking about his life and how hard he worked to get his kids involved in the family business.

It’s really powerful!

Talking to Variety, series co-creator Christian Wallace admits Jones’ scene was unscripted and was “one and done,” meaning he didn’t need to do it a second time.

“It was pretty heavy being in the room listening to that,” Billy Bob Thornton would add. “It made you feel like you weren’t in a scene … It made you feel like you were just sitting there listening to a guy tell his story.”

Lauren ìLoî Smith, Paramount+

Tim McGraw’s daughter plays Ainsley’s neighbor

During Ep. 5 of Landman, Ainsley Norris meets her new next door neighbor, Shelby. That’s Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s daughter Audrey, and it’s not her only appearance.

During Ep. 7, the two teens attend a party on the patch. It goes comically wrong.

McGraw and Hill could have introduced their daughter to creator Taylor Sheridan. In 2021, they starred in the Yellowstone prequel 1883.

Emerson Miller, Paramount+

Country singer Mark Collie plays the sheriff

Early ’90s country music hitmaker Mark Collie plays Sheriff Walt Joeberg on Landman. He’s friends with Tommy Norris and appears in a number of episodes.

“Even the Man in the Moon Is Cryin’” and “Born to Love You” are his biggest hit songs, but he’s scored a number of acting roles, including Frankie Gray for 12 episodes of the ABC/CMT show Nashville.

YouTube.com/EricChurch

The ‘Springsteen’ girl is in this show

You’ll see it in the eyes. In 2012, Eric Church released his signature song, “Springsteen.” The music video opens with a teenage girl describing her perfect guy — it really sets the tone for a wonderfully nostalgic story.

That girl is actor Kelsey Pribilski Ray, and she has gone on to score a number of small roles for TV, film and commercials. During Ep. 10 of Landman, she plays Jasmine, one of the dancers at the strip club that Ainsley and Angela take the senior citizens to.

On Instagram, she had nothing but good things to say about the experience.

Ryan Green, Paramount+

Taylor Sheridan’s wife inspired the senior citizen strip club visit

Ali Larter revealed that Taylor Sheridan’s wife Nicole was the model for Angela’s idea to entertain the senior citizens at the elderly community.

“She does that,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “She plays games and sets up a bar for them …. Nicole has really opened up this world of the way that we can see senior citizens, how we can treat them and have fun with them, and how little effort it takes to bring so much happiness to someone’s life.”

Larter didn’t say that Nicole Sheridan rents a bus to take the most ambitious of her group to an adult night club, but she didn’t say she didn’t, either.

Paramount+ /Paramount Pictures

Ali Larter was that girl in ‘Varsity Blues’

Ali Larter has a few very memorable roles. In 2009, she fought Beyonce in a movie called Obsessed.

In 1999, she tries to seduce James Van Der Beek’s character in Varsity Blues. Her whipped cream, uh, outfit is one of the more memorable moments from the film.

Emerson Miller, Paramount+

Here’s how Billy Bob Thornton got the role of Tommy Norris

During Ep. 2 of Yellowstone prequel 1883, Billy Bob Thornton appears as Marshall Jim Courtright. It was just one episode, but during filming he found out that Taylor Sheridan was writing the role of Tommy Norris for him.

“He told me what it was about, who the character was, and I pretty much said yes before I ever saw a script,” Thornton told Variety. It took a few years to develop, but eventually the marshal would transform into the landman.

Lauren ìLoî Smith, Paramount+

That really was Billy Bob Thornton in the bag during the S1 finale

During the Landman Season 1 finale, Tommy Norris is kidnapped and tortured by drug cartel henchman Jimenez. They put a sack on his head, drive a nail into his thigh and crack his wrist with a hammer.

It was really Thornton doing all of it. He didn’t use a stuntman.

“In those kinds of scenes, you just have to put yourself in that place, like that’s actually happening,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And that night, it felt that way. Plus, I was exhausted. By the time we did the outside scene, I could barely stand up. So, there’s no acting going on there. I would lean on the wall between every take.”

Emerson Miller, Paramount+

Jacob Lofland was in a famous Matthew McConaughey movie

Jacob Lofland played a teenager named Neckbone in the 2013 movie Mud. Matthew McConaughey plays the title character, and Neckbone is one of two boys who assists him. It was a huge role for the Arkansas native.

Emerson Miller, Paramount+

James Jordan is in EVERY Taylor Sheridan project

Actor James Jordan is Taylor Sheridan’s Waldo. Sometimes you have to squint, but he almost always appears in the writer and director’s projects.

In addition to Landman (he plays Dale Bradley), he’s had central roles in Lioness, 1883, Mayor and Yellowstone, plus the movie Wind River.

Lauren ìLoî Smith, Paramount+

Does Michelle Randolph really talk like that to her father?

Without a doubt, the most memorable piece of dialogue from Season 1 of Landman came from Ainsley Norris, who told her father Tommy about her “rule” for safe sex with her boyfriend.

No need to repeat it here, is there? It’s on Instagram.

Talking to Taste of Country, Michelle Randolph says she’s nothing like Ainsley, which makes moments like this easier. It’s not her talking, it’s the spoiled 17-year-old.

“I’m an over-thinker. I’m very filtered,” she shares. “She brought out a side of my personality that had been tucked deeply away. And I think I’ve taken little pieces of her with me and I’m happy about it.”